All Hallow Eve Festivities

Matthew couldn't wait for the costume party and parade at school.

All ready to go.

We got there early and still missed all the action. I was pretty mad about it, but what can you do? We arrived in time to take a picture with the kids and then peal the costume back off. Matthew wanted to keep it on.

After work, Matthew and I went to the ASP Lights on Afterschool events. Matthew and a little friend from daycare had great fun chasing each other. We played alot of games and ate great food.

Matthew had a ball hanging out with Melissa.

Matthew though red light, green light was the best game of the night.

Doesn't this face say it all?

Matthew got to be the red light, green light caller. Mom helped him do it.

Here we are doing the one of the biggest family traditions. Watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. He loves it!

How we are spending the last few nice days outside

This Tonka Dump Truck has been the best investment. Matthew hauls stuff in it, he scoots around in it himself, and it has uses outside. Here he is backing up the slope in it.

And going down, being careful to lean back so it doesn't just dump him out instead.

Once in a lifetime are you small enough to do this.

Or pretend to fall so that your loyal pup will come nose you.

As you can see here he had a wreck and the red "race car" won. Pushing the red car off the poor dump truck.

Trying to get the dump truck straightened back out.

The dogs messing around.

A small boy hid from mom and thought it was hilarious when she finally found his hiding spot.

And one last pic of the race car parked at his new home.

Enjoy the last few days of fall everyone!

A Halloween Adventure, or maybe just a silo

Now you may be saying to yourself, Halloween adventure? Why in the world would an old silo, perfectly ordinary looking to me, be the subject of a Halloween adventure? Well, step along with me and find out. PS: This post inspired by a reader that is very interested in the silo and is thinking of converting it into living quarters...

Here is the object of our attention. The wind is blowing hard today and the whole structure is moaning and groaning and howling. The noise is enough to make the superstitious nervous, especially if it was the 31st. But it's not and we are brave souls right? Let's take a closer look.

Well, here we are at the "front door." I am tall enough to step/hop/scoot through the lowest hole, so I'll help you through. Mind your head...

But before I help you in, do look up. It's quite a sight.

As we step in, wow, what a mess. What you see on the ground is tons of twine for big round bales, that the previous owner/tenent decided to pile here. As you step on the ground it is curiously springy, almost like the rubber athletic asphalt, but more so. Very spooky don't you agree?

Wow, it's a long way up. Couldn't climb out if we got locked in. Do stay close to the door so we don't get "accidentally" shut in, wouldn't you? Meanwhile I'll take some measurements. Hold the measuring tape at the door...that's great...ok, it's 14ft across, so a 14ft diameter. You could maybe have spartan living quarters here...but look, on the ground. Did any of you sing a song in school that went like this:

Have you seen the ghost of John?
White with no skin on the booones,
Whooo, whooooo, whooo, whooo,
Wouldn't it be chilly with no skin on?

No, just me? How odd. Well anyway, we know who John's bones are, but who are these?

Spooky! Let's get out of here! Race you back to the house!

Now that we are back at the house, safe and sound, I am doing a little math for the curious reader. There are 31 spaces between the wire holding the blocks. There is 15" between each wire to the next. So that makes 465" of space going up or 38 3/4' of silo, not counting the open wires at the top. If you'd make each floor 8 feet tall you could have 4 floors, maybe having to add a little more at the top to allow for floor thickness. The roof could be a marvelous observation platform to look at stars. So if you only had the bare essentials or were good at using space, you could have a bedroom, a living room, kitchen, and a bath, with a tiny staircase that hunged the wall spiraling up from the bottom to top. Not too shabby.

But the real question is, would you be brave enough to live there???

Just in time and why me?

Well, the 3 of us shared a very uneventful weekend and were completely lazy all weekend. My biggest accomplishment was getting my planting done this afternoon. Right now I'm listening to rain pour down. It started a few hours after I finished up. Now you understand why it was "just in time."

Matthew has learned a new phrase. His mom is NOT pleased. It is, and I quote, "Mommy stupid." Now you understand "why me?" So far my lectures about how it's not funny and just plain mean have not made a dent. I believe I'm going to start ignoring it now and go into denial. My precious 2 year old baby cannot be calling me stupid. Nope, not happening...

A few tidbits

1. Matthew announced the other day he wanted me to get him something. I said he'd have to wait until I was done eating. He said, "1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10..MOMMY GET IT, please?

2. Matthew announced last night, while I was talking to my mom, "Mamaw, Poppa naughty!" I said, "Why are Mamaw and Poppa naughty?" "Don't know either." What can you said to that? He also was mystified.

3. I had my cholesterol and Vitamin D levels checked at the beginning of Oct. The cholesterol came back fine and the Vit. D came back low. I'm now on Vit. D., which should help me be less tired.

4. We still have cattle dog.

5. A kid was sent to school with pink eye. Matthew luckily did not go today, but I fear for myself since just talking about it gives me pink eye, at times.

6. It's cold and up until recently, it's been raining. I planted all my bulbs, except for a few lily bulbs. (But I still have my mom's to contend with.)

7. Did I tell you earlier in the week I had to trap and remove a snake at work? Pretty brave for me.

8. I had some pots of irises outside and one of the mutts dug in it. I found all missing irises and replanted them. The pots are now inside.

9. Phil and I have Facebook accounts now and are addicted to Farmville. I like it because it reminds me of Sim Farm. I think Phil just likes games and is competitive.

and finally...

10. I will not shun my blog for facebook, as I will not use it as a place to post about our lives or photos. So this is STILL the place to be ladies and gentlemen!

Any questions?

Wayward beacon and various other things

Ever wonder what your child might look like in sunglasses with a pig nose attached? Wonder no longer.

Do you see a problem with this picture?

How about now?

Yes, meet "Cattle Dog." He showed up at our house Thurs. and so far I haven't been able to find his owner. My friend said, "you must have a beacon on your house for wayward creatures." How true it seems. Although this wayward creature cannot stay sadly.

Here Matthew is with his legos and yard sale find, a Mickey Mouse as big as him.

Pink rain clouds anyone?

More pink rain clouds, just because I love them.

And finally a very tired little guy who loves his duck so much he had to sleep with it today at naptime. (And now again at bedtime.) Thanks Auntie for fixing duck!

The pumpkin patch

This was the first time any of us had been to a pumpkin patch. We were amazed by all the stuff to do and see and all the people! There was a steady stream of them coming and going the entire time we were there. We had a blast. Enjoy the event with us from the beginning to the end.

Matthew was totally pumped. He kept screaming, "The park!!!" and bouncing.

This is the gourd launcher.

Here's the pumpkin launcher.

They had a tricycle race course, but unfortunately, Matthew didn't have long enough legs for the pedals.

He managed to create quite a pile up.

According to the pumpkin chart, Matthew is 3 ft. tall now.

The delight of Matthew's day was the slides. They did look pretty fun. Phil went down with him the first time. I didn't get a picture because a tall guy camped out in front of me right as they started down. At one point Matthew got so excited he ran back up to the top, hopped in front of the first kid in line and sailed down again. That's when we realized he needed me to help him with his place in line.

He really enjoyed running on the big round bales that periodically had "DO NOT CLIMB" spray painted on them.

And he never fell off.

Bouncing on them was great fun too. Best park ever.

They had many different boards up for photos. I liked the cat best.

The morning before Matthew had woke up and said, "What was that noise?" I said, "I didn't hear anything." He ripped open the curtains by his bed and said, "Where's the billy goats?" I said, "Billy goats? Do you think we have billy goats?" "Yeah..." I guess he heard that term somewhere and dreamed we'd opened a goat ranch. So I guess he finally got to see his billy goats.

Feeding the greedy beast.

We took the shortest hay rack ride in history. (It lasted no more then a minute seriously.) It dropped us off at the pumpkin patch. We told Matthew he could have whatever pumpkin he could pick up. Not this one obviously.

Having trouble finding a little one on this end we went to where all the little ones were.

On the way back we visited the ducks.

I love this ones feathers!

This one is a beautiful color.

While waiting to pay for our pumpkin and leave, Matthew posed for a picture with all the tempting pumpkins. I was surprised to see gourds that looked exactly like hedge apples. In fact, I really believe that were hedge apples. I swear we could make a killing running a pumpkin patch. Hedge apples we could gather for free and sell for a $1 a piece.

Here we are 2 minutes from the pumpkin patch.

And 5 minutes away we are out. It's the end ladies and gentlemen. Hope you had as much fun as we did.